It destroys all shrubs, not only by its contact, but those even that it has breathed upon it burns up all the grass too, and breaks the stones, so tremendous is its noxious influence. When it hisses, all the other serpents fly from it: and it does not advance its body, like the others, by a succession of folds, but moves along upright and erect upon the middle. It has a white spot on the head, strongly resembling a sort of a diadem. It is produced in the province of Cyrene, being not more than twelve fingers in length. "There is the same power also in the serpent called the basilisk. He describes the catoblepas, a monstrous cow-like creature of which "all who behold its eyes, fall dead upon the spot," and then goes on to say, One of the earliest accounts of the basilisk comes from Pliny the Elder's Natural History, written in roughly 79 AD.
In Medieval Europe, the description of the creature began taking on features from cockerels. The basilisk is alleged to be hatched by a cockerel from the egg of a serpent or toad (the reverse of the cockatrice, which was hatched from a cockerel's "egg" incubated by a serpent or toad). Stories of the basilisk show that it is not completely distinguished from the cockatrice. The basilisk is called "king" because it is reputed to have on its head a mitre- or crown-shaped crest.